Hey Actifitters,
As you might know, I prefer cold and snowy weather, which is exactly the opposite of what we had yesterday. Not very sunny at first, but warm for the season. So we decided to go on a local hike, nothing too strenuous or technical, just easy trails with moderate elevation. We drove to the small village of Saint Desirat (in Ardeche, France), and parked near a small stream, with no specific plan for our itinerary.
Already a nice view of some of the vineyards.
We first had to walk along the road for a little bit, but quickly crossed over that same stream, so we could start the hike itself.
I think it's the best spot for a nice glass of wine, but apparently it hasn't been used in a while.
Just a regular forest trail to start with.
With a couple of odd trees though.
Then we were surprised to hit a somewhat paved path.
But I guess this is to make it easier to bring the heavy equipment.
Then back to the trails and we also saw several truffle fields. I had no idea this area was known for truffles.
We quickly start getting some nice views.
Plenty of vineyards on the hills on the opposite side.
We made it to the Madone du Chatelet pretty quickly and had lunch there as the sun started to get through the cloud cover.
This was still very early, so we kept following the trail to the other side of the hill, opening very different views.
This is also a famous spot for paragliders.
In case you were wondering, of course Sam was with us. He had a blast and probably walked three times as much as we did, constantly going back and forth.
I was surprised to get such a good view on the Alps, including what I am pretty sure is Mont Blanc, the highest peak in Europe.
And also great views of the Rhone river.
As we started the downhill part, we arrived in the vineyards. Lots of them, pretty much everywhere.
I'm really not sure, but based on the location, it's likely to be Saint Joseph, famous wine of the area, and one of my favorites.
We kept going downhill for a while.
But decided to add one last detour to avoid a road section and stay on the trails longer. That involved one short steep uphill though.
And that was the end of this nice easy hike. Not really long, just about 7km and 250m positive elevation.
We took our time and enjoyed the scenery though, so the elapsed time was much longer than the moving time. And we arrived back home just in time for the sunset, and an early aperitif (guess what we drank, of course a bottle of Saint Joseph!)
And that was it. Not what I expected to do on a winter day, but a really nice day overall.
As always, thanks for stopping by and see you tomorrow.
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